Chronology

1918-1919: Robert and Germaine celebrate the end of the war by wintering in Monte Carlo. They return to Paris in the spring.

1919: Robert starts work on his fifth volume of verse, Ballads of a Bohemian. He, however, "forgets" about it and it is not published until 1921.

1921 Autumn: Robert receives a check for $5,000 for the films rights to The Shooting of Dan McGrew. The family travels to New York and Hollywood where they rent a house for six months. His mother comes to visit from Alberta.

1922 January: He leaves Germaine and his mother to travel to Tahiti. While there he sails to Moorea. After 2 months on the islands he sails back to Los Angeles.

1922 Autumn: Robert and his family return to Paris.

Daughter Iris and wife Germaine, 1922

1922 Winter: Robert's third novel, Poisoned Paradise, is published by Dodd Mead. The film rights are sold to MGM. For the next 15 years Service turns his back on verse and devotes his time to novels.

1922: Robert starts work on The Roughneck based on his experience in Tahiti. When finished, he again sells the screen rights.

1924 May 13th: The first of several films based on Robert's work, The Shooting of Dan McGrew, made in 1923, has its world premiere at Jury's Tivoli Cinema in the Strand, London. Directed by Clarence Badger, it stars Lew Cody as McGrew, Barbara La Marr as Lady Lou, and Percy Marchmont as the Stranger.

1924: The film Poisoned Paradise is released. Directed by L. Gasnier, it stars Kenneth Harlan as Hugo and the famous Clara Bow as Margot. Like the novel, the film is well received.

1924 December: The film The Roughneck is released. George O'Brien plays the hero, Jerry Delane, and Billy Dove plays Felicity.

1926: The Master of the Microbe is published. Robert's first mystery novel. This was the kind of book his mother liked.

1927: The House of Fear, A Novel his second mystery novel is published.

1926-1928: Robert visits the health resort of Royat in the Auvergne. He had been exercising strenuously and has a rapidly beating heart and high blood pressure.

1928: Why Not Grow Young? or Living For Longevity is published. A result of Robert's bout with his heart problems which he overcame.